


expand your pining vocabulary

by saturnsfather



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 16:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20118226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturnsfather/pseuds/saturnsfather
Summary: i read a post on tumblr about smoothing someones collar being a form of Gay Longing and blacked out and when i woke up this was in the notes app of my phone so just have it





	expand your pining vocabulary

**Author's Note:**

> listen i wrote this at *check watch* 12:30 am  
its not even a thousand words  
there is No Plot  
just *shoves it across the table at you and runs*

Martin’s hand ran through his hair nervously, messing up the carefully brushed back curls he’d probably spent the last half hour keeping down. They sprang back forward, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Okay, I’m- I think I’m ready.”

Jon let his eyes travel down, down over the dark jacket, the matching patterned slacks, the slick dark shoes. And then back up, up to the brightly colored, but not out of place, neatly ironed button-up that was buttoned all the way to Martin’s throat. It looked… well… uncomfortable. Not just the shirt, tight enough around the man’s throat to be obviously pressed into the skin, but… almost the entire outfit. It wasn’t that Martin didn’t clean up nice, because he did, of course he did, he could succeed at anything he put his mind to. It was just- the whole ensemble was so _formal._ And _stiff._ And it just didn’t really… fit.

But it wasn’t like either of them had much of a choice, really. They’d agreed to this particular occasion, and they were already here, and there was no way Georgie was letting either of them leave. At least they’d be suffering with the other girls. Jon had a feeling at least Daisy would be commiserating with him.

Trying to avoid looking into Martin’s eyes, Jon couldn’t really stop himself, eyes darting back and forth between the man beside him and the doors to the building, a few yards away. The tension was palpable, at least to him. Though that wasn’t just this event, as nearly every interaction Jon had with Martin, at this point, was tense. There was a lot unsaid, a lot of apologies yet to be spoken, a lot of words that should have been mumbled between them but were instead kept in their heads.

Or at least Jon assumed Martin was in the same boat. It had been a while since he’d unconsciously read someone’s mind like that, and he wasn’t about to breach that trust now. Especially with Martin.

He was about to gesture awkwardly towards the entrance, to indicate they should head inside when he stopped, and… something came over him. Jon had no idea what possessed him to lift his hand, but before he could stop himself, he’d reached over and very carefully… fixed Martin’s collar. Smoothed the corner back down against the man’s collarbone. His hand lingered for a moment longer than it should have.

Then he realized what he’d done and pulled away sharply. Cleared his throat.

“You, uh. You look nice,” Jon offered, wincing internally at the shaking in his voice.

Martin blinked, then smiled, a little nervously, and looked away. Ran a hand through his hair again. “Uh. Thanks. You, uh, you do, too.”

There was silence for a moment, and Jon immediately shoved his foot in his mouth trying to offer an explanation that probably wasn’t needed. “Your collar, it was- I just wanted to-“

“Oh, it’s fine! I figured it was- There’s no need to-”

“I figured you’d want it-“

“Yeah, no, it’s okay, I understand-“

“Right-“

“Yeah, uh-“

They both trailed off, and Jon internally kicked himself. Way to make this even more uncomfortable. Martin didn’t need this. This was supposed to be a nice evening out and Jon was ruining it with his stupid emotional issues.

Then Martin smiled at him again, a little nervous, perhaps a little hopeful, and the self-deprecating thoughts seemed to fade into the background. “Should we… go in?” He gestured to the doors with one hand, the other shifting by his side, like he was going to reach for Jon’s arm but decided not to.

“R-right.”


End file.
